A Real Angel

Life Finds Its Way

No one could love like Mother.

I remember her face perfectly even though it’s been over twelve years since she passed on. She had beautiful silver hair much like my own. It was like beautiful winter doves. She had pale skin,   different from my own but she always guided me. She told me I was going to be someone amazing someday. She held so much faith in me. I loved her.

I remember she would head to the most random locations you could name. She always found something there. Parks, alleys, sewers, even in garbage dumps. She went everywhere spreading her love and care. She would stray dogs, cats, the occasional rabbit, and much more. No matter where she went, she loved and cared for every creature she saw and met. To see it myself was... life-altering. I saw the beauty in life and what it means to so many living beings. I remember a moment where my mother guided me to a lone cat. He was a peculiar kitten, he was violent and spooked of everything that moved. He was a stray, a mixed breed. I felt terrible for him. He was mixed, a coat mixed with both orange and black. A normal would have seen him as an ugly mixed cat but to myself, he was the most beautiful cat I had ever seen. My mother guided me. She helped me calm the kitten. I was even able to hold him. He purred in my arms before I set him down and he ran.

That interaction taught me so much about the terrible things that animals go through for not being perfect or purebred. In that moment, I wanted to be like my mother. To have the ability to love anyone and anything.

No one could have been a better mentor to myself than my mother.

Most of all, I remember our warm, sunny afternoons, where we would spend our time out in grass fields together, laying on our stomachs in the lush green grass while we heard the birds sing and watched the butterflies float through the air.  She always took the time to teach me and show me how the animals functioned in our lives and why we should appreciate them.

Mother loved everything. She used to say she fell in love with life and it's nature after she had me. I miss her, though I know her teachings will always stick with me. So I never stopped going out into the fields. Even now, I always find myself a  good spot, and lay myself down to hear the birds sing.

No one could love like Mother. But I always made sure to try like her and try I did. I came out each and every Friday afternoon after work to watch the birds and the nature around me. I'd fly with the birds and care for any animal I could.

Then I started to see him again. That little orange and black mixed kitten I saw. But this time, he was far bigger, gone was that angry nature, he had matured. He was calm and cuddly. I almost didn't recognize him. I had always always remembered the day I first saw him as a young kitten all those years ago. By the stars, I’d never seen a more gorgeous cat like him.

He was gorgeous. Delicate little shoulders, a pleasant homeliness to his aura, not to mention his flowing orange and black fur that gleamed in the sunlight. His eyes shined to the brim with beautiful amber eyes. I was happy to see him again.

That had been in my teenage years. Eventually I forgot him for a long while. I enrolled myself in a hero school to have a good look on my resume and it would allow me to make something of myself.

Then came the present. My early adult years.

I had the chance to make an amazing friend. He had a goofy side but he was sincere and always had a strong sense of who he was.

I remember it vividly. He became a hero.  I was so proud of him. When he told me the theme of his superhero persona, I always knew there was something familiar about but I could never put my finger on it.

Until I saw him again.

He had aged greatly since I first laid eyes on him as a child. I became overwhelmed seeing him again. I held him in my eyes and it was like he remembered me. He got into my arms and purred affectionately.

"Wow. I've never seen León warm up to anyone. Ever."

It all clicked to me. The theme, the colors. León made his impact on more than just me. And by fate, I got to see him again.

"Is... is he your pet?"

"Yeah, I've had him since he was just a kitten. I first saw him in an alley. I saw a girl and her mom with him before the girl set him down and he ran off. I found him days later and he warmed up to me. And so, I kept him."

"...I never knew you had a pet."

"You never did ask. But he's a good cat. Sure, some would say he's an ugly cat because he's mixed but I think he's beautiful. His colors make him unique. He's special."

"You talk like how my mother used to."

"Your mother? Was she nice?"

"Yes. She was an amazing mother. She taught me so many things that I still abide by to this day. She always took the time to teach me-"

"-about why why we should appreciate nature and it's beautiful creatures?"

"...yeah. You remind me of her. You're... almost just like her.."

Perhaps it was in that moment that I learned that life has its own way of intertwining fate. To meet someone like my mother, that couldn't have been a coincidence. But it was all thanks to the little feline that changed my life. We sat together for a while, just chatting away and reminiscing on younger times. And that beautiful mixed cat? He just laid in my lap, clearly satisfied with his work. I've no doubt in my mind that he brought us together with a purpose.

To meet someone that could share my sentiments on life, I know my mother would be proud. If not for her, my life could have never been like this. She taught me love and care, and it brought me along a path to meet someone who shared the same views.

It's all because of her. She taught me to love and appreciate life. If not for her, who knows where'd I be now.

Thank you Mother. For everything.